After a 53-47 vote, the Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court on Thursday, April 7.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who herself broke records as the first Black person and Asian American vice president, presided over the vote. Many people including those in the Asian American community reacted to this historic moment of the first Black woman confirmed to the Supreme Court.
“Judge Jackson’s confirmation is a necessary step towards ensuring that the judicial branch of the United States reflects and represents the diverse communities it serves,” said NAKASEC, the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium, whose mission is to organize Korean and Asian Americans to achieve social, economic, and racial justice.
Becky Belcore, Co-Director of NAKASEC, also put out a statement after the vote.
“We welcome Judge Jackson, with her broad experiences, record, and background, to the judicial branch of the United States,” Belcore said. “The confirmation of Judge Jackson is a vital step towards creating systems that reflect, recognize, and center the communities impacted. Whether Black or white, Asian or Latin, Indigenous or brown, our communities deserve to be represented and heard. We congratulate Judge Jackson and look forward to her role ensuring justice is done in the Supreme Court.”
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Brown, 51, is the first Black woman to hold this position and will become the 116th Supreme Court justice. She is also the sixth woman and third Black justice to serve on the bench.
Jackson will replace Justice Stephen Breyer who announced his retirement in January. She will be sworn in at the end of the Supreme Court’s term, which is expected to be sometime in the summer.
The National Voice of the Asian Pacific American Legal Community congratulated Jackson on her confirmation.
“We thank President Biden for his commitment to diversifying our judiciary,” said A.B. Cruz III, president of NAPABA. “Notably, women and persons of color, including Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, continue to be underrepresented on our courts.”
President Joe Biden followed through on his promise he said during his 2020 presidential campaign to nominate a black woman on the Supreme court.
Although the vote was mostly along party lines, three Republicans did vote in favor of Jackson’s confirmation. Those Republicans were Mitt Romney of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine.
Jackson’s confirmation, although historic, does not change the makeup of the court as conservatives still hold a 6-3 majority.
Not everyone was happy with Jackson’s new position. Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee Chairwoman said the following about Jackson’s confirmation.
“Biden’s pick Ketanji Brown Jackson is a radical, activist judge, one who failed to answer simple questions on her record, including leniency for child porn offenders and support of CRT,” McDaniel said. “Jackson has proved to be in lockstep with the far left’s political agenda, even refusing to define what a woman is. The RNC will hold Democrats accountable this November for supporting Biden’s radical pick.”
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